Every year we change our benchmark configuration and run several CPUs and boards through our benchmark-parcours. Interestingly it revealed some unexpected results.

First we introduce our test rig which should represent a standard machine which will suffice for the most needs, so there is no RAID or dual graphics-cards setup.

Power-Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W:

We will review this product at a later date. Just to let you know, it's a 80Plus power-supply with typically about 84% (at 230V) efficiency. It provides one PCIe 6-pin and one PCIe 8-pin power connector, so it will have no troubles doing Crossfire or SLI, at least with two cards with only one PCIe power-connector. To power your CPU you get one EPS12V and one P4 connector, besides the standard ATX 2.x power-connector, 6x SATA, 6x HDD and 1x floppy connectors give you plenty of headroom.

Graphics-Card: MSI R4850-2D1G-OC:

Any HD4850 should satisfy your gaming needs up to 1920x1024. Higher resolutions are possible but with less details or without anti-aliasing. This card is a good compromise between bangs and bucks. Furthermore the MSI model has a custom PCB with lower power-consumption compared to a standard PCB. The only downside is the lame cooling solution which does not support fan-management. Sanjin will have a look at this card shortly.